


Arriving

by Willow124



Series: Leaving and Arriving [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 01:25:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4687184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow124/pseuds/Willow124
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sequel to my story "Arriving", this takes place 1 year after the original story. What is happening with our survivors? How have they coped in the last year without the group? Have they heard anything about the group since they left? How can two people survive on their own after the end of the world?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arriving

Carol and Daryl had done well since they left the group and made their way to Daryl’s warehouse. They had thick walls and a security system that not even the most determined walker could breach, they had a steady supply of food from both the woods and the little indoor farm that they had started, and they had plenty of supplies from the city. Carol had blossomed under Daryl’s tutelage… she could now shoot a gun almost as well as he, and her hunting skills had grown by leaps and bounds. He had even found a matching set of knives for her that she had gotten very good at. Their relationship with each other had changed as well. Being together alone for as long as they had been meant that there was no way it could stay the same. They flirted more than anything, having acknowledged that they were too much alike to have a relationship other than that of brother and sister. They had been on their own for just over a year when their little world changed again

 

Of course, they knew that something would happen eventually, but they didn’t think it would be something like this. They had both been asleep when the alarms started going off. Daryl was the first one awake, running down the stairs to the computers with his crossbow in hand, and Carol was right behind him. Standing at the computers, it was easy to see that it wasn’t a walker that tripped the alarm. A human, a woman based on body shape, was trying to open the side door. She had one arm across her chest, holding a bag of some sort, and had sat down a gun nearby so she could get the door open. She kept glancing back, keeping an eye out for anything that might come up behind her. With barely a look towards each other, Carol and Daryl were headed towards the door, weapons at the ready. They would let this woman in, but they couldn’t see who she was and had to take precautions. Less than a minute later, the door was open and the three of them were staring at each other in shock. Quickly, they snapped out of it and brought the young woman inside. Carol couldn’t contain herself and hugged her once she was inside. It had been a long time since they had seen any other living human, especially one of their old group. The woman wrapped one arm around Carol and sobbed into her neck, safe at last. Daryl went outside and got her rifle. Once the woman stopped crying, Carol pushed her to arms’ length and just looked at her, and then the bundle made sense. She was holding a sleeping baby.

 

“Carol? Daryl? How…?”

 

“After we left the group, we made our way here. There wasn’t enough food or supplies for the entire group here, but for just the two of us, it worked,” Carol explained, taking the baby from her. “We’ve built it up since then. Where are the others? We can go get them and bring whoever’s left here.”

 

She winced, “T-Dog left about a week after you left. He said he had family on the coast. I haven’t seen him since. Daddy was bit two months later, and Rick had to…. Carl lasted another month after that. A herd came through, and he disappeared. We were slowly picked off, one by one. Lori gave birth a month premature… Glenn and Rick had to do a c-section on her. She didn’t make it, but the baby did. Carl had told me once that he wanted his sibling to be named either Judith or Evan, so this is Judith. Rick wanted nothing to do with her. He went crazy after that… making bad decisions with no one able to really stop him. He was bit about a month and a half after Judy was born. Glenn helped us get away and then he was bit, too. Maggie and I survived together, and then it was just me… me and Judith. We knew that you had headed North after leaving the farm, so we found a map and tried to figure out which way you went. We knew it was a long shot, but it was the only one we had. She’s… she’s been gone for three weeks now. I decided to keep going North and prayed I’d find good people, hoped it would be you,” she told them, starting to sob again.

 

Daryl stepped in and took the baby while Carol wrapped her arms around Beth. Slowly, Beth pulled herself together and just clung to Carol, relishing the feelings of comfort and safety she got from the two. When they had first left, everyone was angry. Emotionally and physically, they were the two strongest members of the group, and once they were gone, the group fell apart. Just like they had said before they left, the group gave up too easily on everything. It was that attitude that got everyone killed. They gave up, especially after losing Hershel and Carl. Over time, she had realized that they were right to leave. All the group had really brought the two of them was pain.

 

After a few minutes, Carol led Beth over to their kitchen and sat her down. The younger woman was very thin and obviously hungry. Carol set to making sure Beth was fed while Daryl opened their refrigerator for some milk for Judith. He handed it to Carol who warmed it up and poured it into a bottle that Beth dug out of her pack. Daryl fed Judith while Carol set the table and made sure Beth didn’t choke trying to eat too fast. Soon, Beth was swaying in her chair, exhausted.

 

Carol helped her stand and picked up her pack, handing the baby things to Daryl, “You can stay with me tonight. Daryl, can you take Judith? We can figure out a crib and sleeping arrangements tomorrow.”

 

Daryl nodded, “I’ve got her.”

 

The two women went to Carol’s room. Carol gave Beth a clean set of clothes and showed her where the shower was. Soon, Beth was clean and clearly ready to sleep, so Carol helped brush out her hair and then lay down next to her, protecting her from inevitable nightmares. Daryl took Judith to his room and cleaned her up before turning one of his dresser drawers into a makeshift crib. He slept light that night, waking up every so often to check on the baby. She was about the same age as his son had been when he was taken, and he was already planning how to keep her safe.

 

The next morning, Daryl and Carol were up with the sun… and so was Judith. They got the baby settled down and let Beth sleep. Daryl took a bunch of scrap metal and made a temporary crib for Judith. The two of them lined it with cloth, making sure that it was safe for the tot. They would have to go on a hunt soon for baby supplies and a real crib, but they wouldn’t be too hard to find. There were several pre-schools and baby stores in the city they could get the stuff. They also needed clothes for Beth. Carol had gotten hers out of her pack to wash them, and they were almost beyond repair. The girl could wear hers for now, but eventually, she would need her own. They did morning chores until Beth woke up, and then they all sat down for a meal and the discussion they couldn’t have yesterday.

 

“How did you two know about this place?” she asked.

 

“Daryl built it,” Carol answered.

 

“I was helping out a couple of people who saved my life and helped me when I was in a tight spot. I had a son once ‘bout the same age as Jude is now… he was kidnapped and then murdered when I couldn’t do exactly what the kidnappers wanted. Blade and his father, Whistler, helped me get revenge on the ones who killed my son, so I helped them build warehouses like this all over Europe and North America. I also built weapons and security systems for them. This was the last one I built. It has solar panels on the roof and was fully stocked for the others to use. I had to leave it when Merle left the Army… he didn’t know about my son, and he doesn’t know about this place, and it’s going to stay that way. I never got to tell B or Whistler about it, so I was the only one who knew it was here, and I was the only one who could get past my security system. I’ll get you into the system today after we show you around. Later, we’ll go out for stuff for the little asskicker and you.”

 

“Eat up, and we’ll show you everything,” Carol told her. “We have a lot of space here that used to be Daryl’s shop, so we turned it into a small farm. We found a garden store, and brought a bunch of big flower pots back here. They’re full of vegetables. We’ve even got a few small fruit trees. They’re scattered around the building. In the warehouse connected to this one, we’ve got a few pigs and several chickens. We’ve even got a small herd of goats. We’ve been collecting them as we find them. You saw last night that we have running water and electricity thanks to the solar panels on the roof. We’re pretty self-sufficient when you add in the things we get from the city and the woods. When we go on runs, we make a list of everything we need or want, and we map out where everything should be in the city. We walk most of the time, but whenever we need something big, we have a truck. The streets are mostly clear. We spent a few months leading the walkers out of the city. There are still a few groups here and there, but it’s not too bad if you’re patient. Did anyone in the group teach you how to fight or shoot?”

 

“I learned to shoot when I was little. Mama made sure I knew how. Daddy didn’t know. I had to learn how to fight after we lost Rick and Glenn… Maggie couldn’t do everything on her own. She taught me what she could, and the rest we learned together. We had to protect Judy,” Beth said before stopping… she had another question though, “You said the names Blade and Whistler. I’ve heard those names before… who are they?”

 

“They were Hunters. Before the walkers, before all of this, there were others would liked to eat humans: vampires and weres. Most people don’t believe they exist, but they do. B and Whistler hunted vampires. There were other Hunters, but I never met any of them, though I heard a few names here and there. After Whistler was murdered, the other Hunters found B and helped him take out the clan that killed him. Where did you hear their names?”

 

“When I was very little, I woke up one morning with a weird tattoo… and Daddy started spending more hours at work. Once I got older, I found Mama’s diary, and she wrote that someone had taken me and marked me to prove that they could get to us no matter where we were. Then one day, Daddy stopped working late. I overheard him and Mama talking. He told her a lot of stuff that I didn’t understand, but I know that the names of Blade and Whistler were mentioned. I was six.”

 

“Can I see the tattoo?” Daryl said very seriously.

 

“Sure, here,” she said, holding out her arm and removing her bracelets.

 

Daryl looked at her wrist for a few seconds before he started swearing. He recognized the mark on her wrist… it was a glyph, one belonging to the Dobluth clan.

 

“Do you know what this is? What it means?”

 

“No, I did ask, but Daddy just told me that I was too young. As I got older, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. Mama taught me how to keep it covered, and I just didn’t see the point in asking again.”

 

“Daryl,” Carol said, “what does it mean?”

 

“It means that your family was working for the Dobluth clan until B and Whistler destroyed it twelve years ago. They were based in Columbia, South Carolina, but I guess they had a bigger reach than we had thought at the time. They were considered outcasts to the other vampires. They liked to gather large groups of humans, mostly run-aways and homeless, and farm them like cattle. They even started several actual farms that they used to feed their humans and pay for the upkeep of their empire. The last job I helped B and Whistler with was making the weapons they used to utterly destroy that clan. You got lucky that they didn’t keep you. In a way, you were even luckier that it was them… any other clan would’ve gone in and slaughtered your entire family, or used all of you for their experiments. This one probably wanted your dad to help their livestock so they used you to make sure he did what they said.”

 

“Experiments?” Carol asked since she hadn’t heard that part before.

 

“Genetic experiments. They wanted to make the perfect vampire. Most of them ended up being worse than the actual vampires. One group was immune to everything but sunlight, but they needed to feed every few hours or they would starve. Another group was allergic to anything metal. We were able to take those groups out pretty easy, but others were harder to kill,” Daryl told them.

 

“Do you think they had something to do with the walkers?” Beth asked.

 

Daryl started to say no, but then he actually thought about it, “It’s possible. That one group that was immune to almost everything acted a lot like walkers, especially once they got a few links away from Novak… the first of the strain. They were basically walkers with slightly more brains and harder to kill. The vamps called 'em reapers.”

 

“Were you able to cure vampires that had been bit?” Carol asked.

 

“This one woman, a doctor, invented a cure after she was bit, but the person had to want it… it didn’t work on the unwilling. We never tried it on any of the experiments. There was this whole war going on between the hunters and the vampires and there was never time.”

 

“Do you think, maybe, the cure would work as a vaccine against turning?” Beth asked.

 

That question stopped Daryl and Carol in their tracks. Carol hadn’t known the whole story behind what had happened to Daryl’s son, and Daryl hadn’t wanted to think about it. Daryl glanced over to the wall of computer screens that hid a small lab that both Blade and Whistler had made sure was included in every bunker they built. Then, he looked at Beth.

 

“It’s possible,” he told her, “but I don’t know how we would test it. We have a lab here, but none of us are doctors or scientists. None of us know how to do something like that. We would need to find someone who does.”

 

“Then there’s no way to know for sure,” Carol stated mater-of-factly. “It’s not like we can get on the phone and call someone like that.”

 

“Maybe we can…,” he told her, walking over to the computer they kept on to run the security system. “When I built these warehouses, I made sure they were all connected to each other and to the Night Stalkers. The wires are underground and all the power for them comes from the solar panels on every roof. If B or one of the Night Stalkers was using one of them, we could send them a message. They had scientists and doctors working for them. One was even smart enough to make a bio-weapon against vampirism… it wasn’t as effective as they wanted it to be, but it did kill all of the vamps in North America in less than a month. It’s a long shot, but it might work.”

 

“Daryl, can you keep Judith while you’re sending the message? I want to show Beth around and start on that list,” Carl said.

 

Daryl nodded and sat down, only pausing long enough to take the baby back from Beth. Carl smiled at Beth, who looked a little unsure about letting Judith out of her sight again, and led the younger woman around the warehouses (they were connected with small walkways that Daryl and Carol had built twenty feet off the ground once they realized they needed more space for a farm).

 

“How did you find all of these animals?” Beth asked after staring at the goats, pigs, and chickens for a few minutes.

 

“A few we found wandering lost in the woods. The rest we found by chance. We were out hunting one day, saw the tracks, and followed them. It took about two days for them to lead us back to a small farm. It had all of these animals, plus cows and horses. We wanted to bring them back, but they wouldn’t fit very well with our limited space. We fixed the holes in the fences though, so if we need to go back for them, we can. We’ve been thinking about clearing out a couple more warehouses for them, but we’re not sure how we would feed them. This lot isn’t that bad… we use about half our space to grow crops for them. We have a third warehouse just for that. We’ve been trying to figure out a way to move this lot between the buildings, but we haven’t figured it out yet… they don’t like our walkways. We’ve been clearing warehouses as we need them. If our little herd gets any bigger, we’re going to need a forth one soon. Come on, I’ll show you some of the security stuff Daryl set up.”

 

Carl led Beth back to Warehouse 1 (or home, as she was calling it) and to a computer set across the walkway from the one Daryl was at, “This is how we knew you were alone last night, though we didn’t know you had a baby with you. We have cameras set up to see all around this building and the other two we’ve cleared. Daryl found a couple electronics stores and brought back enough cameras and solar generators to cover the entire city if we wanted to. The main cameras that protect this building are set up with motion detection and heat detection. If anything bigger than a medium sized dog gets within a hundred feet of this building, alarms will go off. We might have to rethink them though if we want Judith to sleep through the night. They would wake her up. Is there anything else you want to ask?”

 

“Can I stay in your room or am I staying in a different one?”

 

“For now, you’ll stay with me while Judith stays with Daryl. We have other rooms, but they're mostly for storage. The others are locked up tight… they were supposed to belong to Blade and Whistler.”

 

“I’d rather stay with you, if that’s okay?” Beth said, unsure. “It’s just… I don’t want to be alone right now. Not after….”

 

“You’re safe now, Beth,” Carol told her.

 

“Ain’t nothin’ going to get in here,” Daryl stated, having rolled his chair across the aisle to them. “I built this place to stand up to things a lot stronger and smarter than walkers. Now c’mon, let’s get you into the system so you won’t be locked out on accident. I sent out the message. It might be awhile before we get a reply, if we get one at all. Other than stuff for Beth and the little asskicker, what do we need to get today?”

 

“Little asskicker?” Carol asked before answering, “We need more good metal for bullets and bolts. We also need more powder for the bullets. A bigger bed would be great since we’re going to need the truck for Judith’s stuff anyway… the bed in my room wasn’t made for two people. I also want to get the rest of the pots from the gardening store. We have a few more packs of seeds that I want to get planted and there might be more packets that we didn’t get.”

 

Daryl nodded, writing everything down as she spoke before adding, “We also need more string for my bow, soap, and whatever cloth and baby-proofing supplies we can find. There’re a lot of sharp edges around here we need to make safe before Lil Asskicker starts crawling. For Judith, we need clothes, formula, a crib, toys, diapers, a couple playpens, and whatever else you need, Beth.”

 

“Clothes and shoes,” she stated. “I can’t think of anything you don’t already have.”

 

“We can get most of this at the mall and the furniture place next to it. We might have to clear that area out again though… it’s right on the edge of town, and walkers like to stumble in following the few animals that venture into the city,” Carol stated. “We’ll also need to get something to your hair. I didn’t see any extra pony tail holders in your bag, and yours is almost worn out.”

 

Beth spoke up, “Did you check the back room at the hardware store? They sometimes have buckets of seeds.”

 

“We checked one of them, but we haven’t gotten to the other two yet,” Daryl told her. “We were going to go into number two next week. It had a couple of walkers in it, but they should be gone by now. Are you going to stay here and rest, or do you want to go out with Carol or me? Someone has to stay with Jude while we're out.”

 

“I can get your clothes if you want to stay here,” Carol told her, “or you can come with one of us to see the city. It's up to you.”

 

“I think I want to stay here today,” Beth said. “Are you going out again tomorrow?”

 

“Probably,” Carol answered, “this is too much to get in one trip.”

 

“We'll get the mattress, a bunch of stuff for Judith, and some clothes for you, but most of it will have to wait. We just don't have room in the truck.”

 

“I'll stay here today then. Do you mind if I…?”

 

Daryl interrupted her, “This is your place now, too. We'll show you the computer systems tomorrow, but everything else is fair game. We'll be back in a few hours. We don't like being gone for longer than that unless we have to. I'll go start the truck.”

 

With that, he handed Judith to Beth and walked to the garage area to get everything ready for their run. Carol took a few minutes to make sure Beth knew where everything was before going to get her knives and Daryl's crossbow. They would only be gone for a couple of hours, but they were all worried. Daryl and Carol had gotten good at their runs, but now they had Judith (and to a lesser extent Beth) to worry about, and they didn't want to do anything that would cause her to not be safe. Beth, however, was just worried about being alone again. She felt like she had been reunited with her family, and she didn't want to lose that. All three hoped that nothing would go wrong and would to anything to protect the others. Waving as the other two drove the truck outside, Beth closed the door and went back upstairs… she felt like she hadn't slept in years and knew it was time for Judith to take a nap… and if she fell asleep at the same time, then it was no one's business but her own.

 


End file.
